Mackenzie Bouverat is a student at Harvard Law School.
Today’s headline is that Jeff Bezos visited space. Of the $5.5 million dollar expenditure, he commented the following: “[I] want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all this. So seriously, for every Amazon customer out there, and every Amazon employee, thank you from the bottom of my heart, very much. It’s very appreciated.”
Yesterday, a California state appellate court permitted a group of Postmates couriers alleging that the delivery platform withheld wages and tips may proceed on claims filed on behalf of the state of California despite a strict arbitration agreement signed by the plaintiffs. The class of drivers claim misclassification as independent contractors and seek civil penalties for underpaid wages. The latter claim is filed under the Private Attorneys General Act, which deputizes employees to sue for labor code violations on behalf of the state. Following California precedent, the lower court held — and the California Court of Appeals affirmed — that PAGA claims are not arbitrable: a worker cannot waive a right to bring a representative action on behalf of a state government. The case, Winns v. Postmates, is part of at least five other coordinated suits against Postmates in San Francisco. California appellate courts, including the First and Second District, have refused to compel arbitration of PAGA two of unpublished rulings.
A Baltimore federal judge has preliminarily approved a $29 million dollar settlement awarded to poultry plant employees by their employer, Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. The plaintiffs alleged antitrust violations involving a scheme to drive down pay for the industry’s workforce. The deal permits Pilgrim to exit the proposed class action and requires it to cooperate in building a case against the remaining defendants accused of colluding to depress wages. These include Tyson Foods Inc., Hormel Food Corp., Sanderson Farms Inc., Perdue Farms Inc., Cargill Inc., Butterball LLC, Koch Foods Inc., ContiGroup Cos., Mountaire Farms Inc., Simmons Foods Inc., George’s Inc., Fieldale Farms Corp., Peco Foods Inc., and Webber Meng Sahl & Co. The case is Jien v. Perdue Farms Inc..
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April 26
Screenwriters in the Writers Guild of America vote to ratify a four-year agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, and teachers in Los Angeles vote to ratify a two-year agreement with the Los Angeles Unified School District.
April 24
NYC unions urge Mamdani to veto anti-protest “buffer zones” bill; 40,000 unionized Samsung workers rally for higher pay; and Labubu Dolls found to contain cotton made by forced labor.
April 23
Trump administration wins in 11th Circuit defending a Biden-era project labor agreement rule; NABTU convenes its annual legislative conference; Meta reported to cut over 10% of its workforce this year.
April 22
Congress introduces a labor rights notification bill; New York's ban on credit checks in hiring takes effect; Harvard's graduate student workers go on strike.
April 21
Trump's labor secretary resigns; NYC doormen avoid a strike; UNITE HERE files complaint over ICE concerns at FIFA World Cup
April 20
Immigrant truckers file federal lawsuit; NLRB rejects UFCW request to preserve victory; NTEU asks federal judge to review CFPB plan to slash staff.